If someone would have told me that great things would come from a dark, burlesque establishment, my mind certainly wouldn’t have gone to community development. No, I’d have other thoughts on my mind.

But that’s the best thing about sexy topics; they’re rarely predictable. The sultry Brazen Café on King Street in St Catharines has a row of crystal chandeliers that reflect elegantly against the sleek, black ceiling like diamonds sparkling on a starry night. In a corner, a tall, elaborate candelabrum erotically drips with creamy coloured candle wax against the sensual black on black wallpaper, the perfect foil to the scantily clad dancers in red satin costume and rose-red lips – Paris burlesque, it could be.

During the day, the sunshine floods into the coffee shop and brightly coloured modern art hang on the walls reflecting a more modern-day Paris. It’s an experience that creates a mood. For some it’s exotic, for two women regularly meeting for coffee and who accidentally discover they’re motivated by a community in need; it’s inspiring and energizing.

It’s here, on this burlesque dance floor where Sense and Saneability was born. With a strong sense of freedom and abandon, Sharon Demarko and I, both accomplished writers, found new life in issues that concern us most.

For example, Sense and Saneability petitioned the mayor’s office providing a possible solution to the desperation of the homeless in downtown St. Catharines. We did the legwork, pulled in some sympathetic partners and asked others for in-kind services. With nothing short of a shoe-string budget, it seemed like we just might have a chance to improve living conditions for those who have nowhere to live. It’s a project still in the early stages and Sharon is spearheading this one, but it looks promising. It’s a perfect example of a community coming together to help each other.

Sense and Saneabilty is an organization that takes the insanity in the world, and tries to create sensible solutions using nothing short of common sense. Almost like a mother would take the craziness of a toddler acting out and help him/her see there are easier and better ways to get results – better meaning, better for all. In these scenarios, we all become better people.

Sure saneability is not a word, but as Sharon and I are both writers, it’s our prerogative to invent new words when the English language fails to provide any suitable icon of intended expression. The only challenge is the spelling. Here’s where we differ. I say, “saneability”, reflecting the ability to find sanity in an insane world and Sharon prefers, “sanability” as a natural conjuncture of the two words. It’s a good thing we agree on most everything else.

My focus in on creating a healthier Niagara. In a region with a growing epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, I would love to see a stronger voice for preventative health options. To this end, Sense and Saneability started an organization of natural and preventative health practitioners. It’s where doctors, nutritionists, and other health experts meet to discuss outreach options. To date, the group has organized a series of health seminars called, The Power of Prevention. Held at many of the local libraries throughout the region, these seminars are free to anyone wanting to improve their health, reach a health goal or protect the health they have. It’s a great example of how a number of voices can speak louder than any one individual.

In an insane world where organizational solutions have come to mean the benefit of the establishment instead of the good of its people; in an insane world where political policies benefit special interest groups instead of the population, is it any surprise to find ourselves living in a world of great disparities – disparities with winners and losers. However, to Sense and Saneability, venting about disparities is more like foreplay, what really pleasures us in this burlesque house is the art of conceiving common-sense solutions to the issues that imbalance our community and society.

Currently, we have no website, Facebook page or other technical means of communication but what we do have is a page on my website – LynnOgryzlo.com. Here you’ll find the campaigns that Sharon and I are working on, but more than that Sense +Saneability offers a journey for other change-makers who want to focus on their journey of changes for the next decade. The actual format of this journey will evolve with and adjust to the situation unfolding around us. Let’s do this. Join us for virtual coffee, get inspired, have fun, get active, and be part of something bigger.

 

 

SOME OF OUR GREATEST CAMPAIGNS

 

Niagara Alliance of Holistic Health Professionals (NAHHP)
A group of preventative and natural health professionals in Niagara who seek to raise the voice of holistic alternative options for those looking to heal or prevent lifestyle diseases. NAHHP delivers a seminar series called The Power of Prevention. NAHHP intends to organize roundtable discussions with regional stakeholders to discuss possible solutions to Niagara’s obesity and chronic disease epidemic.

FOOD 101
A culinary institute that teaches the science of nutrition to all who struggle with lifestyle diseases, particularly weight loss, obesity, and diabetes. The goal is to empower people with information about their bodies and lifestyle choices. This way people can make their own positive changes to achieve and/or protect their health goals and improve the quality of their lives.

Good News Niagara
An organized, strategic and engaging network to inform residents of Niagara on the issues that affect them the most, to motivate and empower residents with current affairs, to educate about lifestyle subjects and to bring a community together through communication.

Food Therapy
A CKTB Talk 610 radio show discussing the food we eat, with the philosophy that what you put in your body matters. Weekly discussions centre around food and how food influences our body, our health, our mind, our children, our families, and our community. There will be food solutions to health issues and simple recipes for listeners to take action for their own dietary changes.

Artists Repurposing Gallery
More than another second-hand shop, this retail and artist studio environment will have a selection of new art made from repurposed, second-hand materials along with some second-hand goods. It will offer local artists a new sales venue, create employment and offer household and fashion goods to the public at less than half the retail value. Profits go to fund the Compassionate City Sanctuary.

Compassionate City Sanctuary
A group effort to help those less fortunate, the voiceless Niagarians who no longer have the resources to support themselves with a roof over their head, food to eat or community support. It aims to gather the appropriate community support, repurpose one of downtown St. Catharines empty buildings and offer solutions to make a change. It aims to be self-supporting through a variety of means within the first 5 years.

 

 

PS – when I started writing this story we were just beginning to hear rumours of a virus on the other side of the world, millions of miles away, that would affect us her in Niagara. How difficult was it to conceive of this reality. But as I finish this copy we’re all in personal distancing paranoia, toilet paper is being horded and stacked, we line up to be showered with disinfectant so we can buy food and we’ve entered an era of confusion, fear, and paralysis. Instead of being proactive, doing what we can and taking the necessary and smart steps to stay healthy, we’ve become mindless zombies, our inept governments are eagerly sharing their desperation and sense of futility – nothing makes sense. More than ever we need leaders and a voice of sanity and common sense in these uncertain times – the time for Sense and Saneability has arrived.

 

Lynn Ogryzlo is a food writer, cookbook author, culinary activist, founder of FOOD101 and holistic nutritionist. She can be reached for questions or comments through her website at www.LynnOgryzlo.com.